The AAFP recently joined 29 other organizations to bring its concerns about unregulated tobacco products to the highest level -- urging President Obama to halt years of delay and provide the leadership necessary to ensure the FDA has authority over all tobacco products.

More than 90 percent of adult smokers start before the age of 19. This is known within public health circles and it’s leveraged by tobacco companies. It is critical that we curb youth access to tobacco if we want to build healthier communities over time.

The U.S. tobacco market has experienced a shift toward noncigarette tobacco products. This study examined the degree of habit formation and the role of advertising for cigarettes, little cigars/cigarillos, large cigars, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco using market-level scanner data for convenience stores from 2009 to 2013. Results based on a dynamic demand system show that while all tobacco products are habitual, e-cigarettes are the most habitual product. More choices of flavors, less restrictions on its use in public places, less documented harmful effects, and a higher upfront cost might explain the higher degree of habit formation for e-cigarettes. We also find that e-cigarettes did not substitute for or complement cigarettes. The results imply that e-cigarettes may serve as a gateway to nicotine addiction but not necessarily to cigarette smoking. Regarding advertising, cigarette magazine advertising did not affect cigarette demand, while e-cigarette TV advertising increased e-cigarette demand with a positive spillover to cigarette demand.

Two tobacco giants are seeing strong demand for their reboots of the e-cigarette in Japan, with Philip Morris International twice postponing a nationwide rollout and Japan Tobacco suspending shipments - both due to supply shortages. Japan has become a key testing ground for the two companies and their new, real tobacco e-smokes as they grapple with shrinking demand for traditional cigarettes in other developed countries.

The percentage of African-American high school seniors who smoke has changed very little over the past two decades. In fact, the percentages in 2014 and 1992 are statistically the same. That’s among the findings presented in a supplement to the April issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.